This is an extract from a letter from me to John.
Dear John,
Timing
This next bit is self-therapy. Pause here a minute and bring back to mind any memory of a perfectly timed shot and re-live the thrill of pulling it off; whether it be a chip, putt, approach, drive, penalty kick or a pass to the inside centre. Then, bring to memory an occasion when “timing” has won you something, and the satisfaction of doing something under competitive pressure. Then think of Rory McIlroy on the 12th green at the Masters.
My achievement is that I identified “timing” as being the most important aspect of a hitting or throwing sport (and seeing that sport, in fact, evolved in the first place to test our ability to “time”), and then worked out the physics, and then worked out how the brain exploits the physics.
Another achievement is that I wasn’t distracted by the conventional teachings but neither did I disregard them completely; I was only interested in the truth about how humans apply an accurate force to an object.
To my mind, the number one benefit for golfers of my discovery is that they get to see that every shot is the same; from putt to drive to flop chip. This one conclusion from the theory means that a golfer can concentrate wholly on the method every single time. Another major benefit is that the distractions of clubs, stance, grip, shoes etc are put into their rightful place in the hierarchy of importance: of course, they each have a measure of importance but they are not of primary importance (by stance I really mean alignment).
What is so pleasing about your response to my preachings is that you are scoring well. This means that your whole game is benefiting and there are no bits suffering. Your comments about length are also very pleasing. I have no idea what to expect in this area (particularly off the tee) because I have no experience of someone as good as you taking on the ideas. My experience of myself is that I was so bad for so long that I never got as far as getting a tee shot with a wood off the tee and up into the air! I can now hit a drive straight and 220 yards (not all the time, mind!); but that’s not improvement, it is transformation.
Back to Rory and Sergio (and countless others). I am fairly certain that they don’t “get” that every shot is the same. I think that any golfer who shows a disparity in skill level across the shots range is showing that they have always been natural timers and that when they have tried to “fix” or “improve” an aspect of their game they have worsened it because they are now convinced that they have to do something different and that merely thinking that they should be doing something different turns the shot into a conscious process.
Colin
